AFTER 19 long years of lobbying for the Students’ Code, student leaders finally showed progress last October amid what seemed like a never-ending process.
Apparently, the code would be presented to the Council of Regents in mid-November. But until now, a meeting has yet to transpire.
Disappointing as it might seem, there was nothing new about this instance. It was among the long line of broken promises about the long-delayed code which would emphasize the rights and responsibilities of every Thomasian.
Many aspiring student leaders have used the same advocacy every election season—the Students’ Code would be passed during their term. Different strategies have also been presented. Some said they would railroad the code in the Congress or talk to the Rector themselves.
Ideas have been pitched, but the same problems continue to impede the code’s passage. It is baffling how after 14 years, still no set of officers could find a solution to the same problems.
Turning over the unfinished revisions to the next set of leaders has become a cause of delay in the previous Central Student Council (CSC) administrations. The lack of paper trail, according to past leaders, was the reason the code became stagnant. But after holding up the process for years, problems like this should no longer be present today.
One setback they have encountered, according to former Central Board speaker Jonathan Santos, was the difficulty in finding time to meet amid their busy schedules. They were still students with academic requirements after all, he told the Varsitarian. But this only sounded like a lazy excuse.
Gunning for a position in the student council meant knowing the responsibilities it would entail, including putting the student body’s needs above anything else.
Now, it seems as if all the political will displayed at the beginning has been reduced into a petty excuse, and the Students’ Code into a political tool to be discarded as soon as these so-called leaders attained their coveted seats.
Four months in the academic year and the CSC finally released a resolution saying the code would go through another review and this time, local student council presidents would reassess each section of the code.
The resolution also reiterates the formation of a Students’ Rights and Welfare (Straw) Coalition which would advocate the rights and welfare of the student body, specifically during a week-long effort to present the code to the students. This has happened almost every year since the inception of the STRAW week.
While this shows that the appointed student leaders have not entirely forgotten about the code, it has also turned into a futile routine.
At this point, CSC officers should have already detected a pattern to the revisions needed in the charter they are pushing for. Maybe the problems that should be addressed lie in its content.
Fourteen years of revisions have been dragging enough to raise the question: Is the passage of Students’ Code hopeless?
